Providing education about Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

Improving carers' knowledge of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been associated with benefits for carer well being (Dieckmann, Zarit, Zarit, & Gatz, 1988; Graham, Ballard, & Sham, 1997b). This has lead to recognition of the need to systematically evaluate dementia education tools (Graham, Ballard, & Sham, 1997a; Moniz-Cook & Woods, 1997; Ostwald, Hepburn, Caron, Burns, & Mantell, 1999). In this study dementia knowledge was measured pre- and post- interventions designed to improve knowledge in a sample of 100 undergraduate students. Dementia education materials were selected from existing resources that are readily accessible and are recommended for use in clinical settings (American Psychiatric Association (APA), 1997; Boise, Morgan, Kaye, & Camicolli, 1999). Subjects were allocated to one of four conditions including a control group. Subjects allocated to education conditions were asked to view a video on AD, read written information about the disease, or do both. Results showed that education improved knowledge of AD, as measured by increased scores on a dementia knowledge questionnaire. This study has important implications for public education about dementia and resource allocation for service providers.

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